"Yeah, you looked familiar," the boy chuckled as the little girl's face moved from the reflection to the real thing. "Lily...Evers?"
"Ev---Yes!" she replied nervously, admiring Lupin's sky blue eyes that looked kindly at her. She could've been named 'Cornucopia' and Lily wouldn't have had a care in the world.
"What're you doing here?" she asked, almost too quickly.
Lupin blinked at that statement, scratching one of his elf-like ears. Apparently, he had not been ready for that sort of question. "I just needed some quiet time, I guess."
"Oh, I'm sorry..." Lily suddenly felt incredibly dim. "Did you want to be alone?"
Lily truly hoped it wasn't humanly possible to turn bright pink in less than a second. Though, as she said those words, she remembered it was Lupin who had walked up to her, and not the other way around.
"No, no. It's fine," he smiled wholeheartedly, as if his original plans had changed since he had seen her there. "I mean I don't mind company or anything."
The little girl beamed, and tried to hide her excitement with a smile – perhaps too broad a smile – as she began stroking a small strand of her hair. She was imagining how lucky she must've been to be in the Conservatory that exact day, and to think Joyce was planning to come there instead!
Remus Lupin never did seem to show off his existence the way his friends, Potter and Black, did. Throughout that whole week, Lily could see him being more interested in studying for next Thursday's potion review, along with tutoring frantic-little-Pettigrew whenever the two ran into each other in the courtyards. She wondered how someone who was so nice and endearing could hardly grab attention to people...and even be the subject of so many ridiculous rumors!
To say that Severus' vampire blood was bad enough, it seemed nothing compared to the things Lily would hear about this nice boy throughout the school. Bobby Avery, from Ravenclaw, recently said that Lupin's father was a praised wolf hunter on the Scottish Highlands, and would let his children scamper into the woods.
'That was the secret to his success!' she recalled Avery's voice in the library. 'You see, wolves can't resist the taste of young meat...and of course nobody would want to lend him their children...so he would use his own brood! As BAIT!'
"Um...those are goldfish, aren't they?"
Lily looked up. Lupin had asked her curiously, seeing that she had been gazing at the fish with sincere interest.
"I think so." She turned back towards the fountain. "They look more like guppies, actually. Colorful guppies..." Lily mentally slapped herself in the face, wondering how absurd that must have sounded.
Lupin glanced towards the fountain water. "Well, I'm not too familiar with Muggle creatures."
The redhead's eyes glimmered a bit, hearing how the boy had said "Muggle" much differently than how James Potter said it to her that morning. It was offhand – like how Severus said it in the Hogwarts Express – yet in Lupin's voice she heard a slight sense of intrigue, and fascination.
"It's okay...actually, I'm not a big fish expert either, so I guess we're even," the girl made a small attempt of humor, wanting to keep a conversation going. Lupin's small laugh seemed to encourage it as well.
"Thanks again for helping me, back at the Kings Cross..." Lily added, hoping the nice boy had remembered it as much as she did. She still couldn't believe he almost knew her last name!
"Oh, yeah, it was nothing." Lupin seemed captivated watching the dancing fish, and Lily noticed how his lips almost curved up like a 'V' whenever he grinned thoughtfully. She also liked that calmness about him - it somehow made the young face look much older.
The guppy fish leapt in and out of the water, spraying drops of mist onto the First Years' faces from the edge of the fountain. Lily wiped her cheeks in awkwardness, but loving how the cold water felt against her blushing face.
"Do you have any pets at home?" Lily asked then, as it was the first thing she could think of, seeing to fish. One of the colorful guppies made a giant leap over the water and touched Lupin's nose, and he yelped from the shock. The Hufflepuffs nearby glanced over to see what had happened, but Lily didn't mind that sudden attention at all.
She was too amused by Lupin's attempts to grab at the bright red guppy, now flipping on top of his sandy hair. He gently cupped it with his palms.
"Um...I once had a barn owl...red-orange, noisy..." Lupin tried to release the bright red guppy back into the fountain, but was stuck to his hand like glue.
Lily laughed, moving her bangs slightly to see him better. "What happened to it?"
"Oh, my dad sold it to a neighbor of ours when I was about seven. Nothing happened, I was just...allergic to it." His attention seemed to wander off at that moment, as he tried to shake the colorful fish off of his hand. The silly girl hid her amusement as she watched him carefully pick it up by the tail and drop it back into the fountain.
"How's the week been for you?" The boy sat himself onto the fountain edge, his back facing the water and the dancing fish. "Malfoy's not bugging you still, is he?"
"Not so much," Lily beamed inside, "but Black and Potter...they never seem to get tired of it, do they!" The little redhead instantly felt like she was talking to someone like Margaret, and tried hard to get rid of that exaggerated tone. She looked over to Hagrid, who sounded like he was discussing a bet with Professor Genspy.
Lupin arched one of his eyebrows, and then gave a long sigh. "Oh they're harmless." His tone didn't sound convincing enough, unfortunately.
"Um...I'd like to think so...I can't imagine having to live with them." Lily tried really hard not to sound too cruel, considering that Lupin was their friend. Of course, she wanted to feel more comfortable speaking her mind to people aside from Joyce and Margaret, but so far that only seemed to be working with Severus.
Lupin shook his head, and chuckled. "Trust me, Lily, they're both very decent people--"
"Don't they ever play jokes around you?" she couldn't resist the curiosity.
"Well...they keep telling me they're going to start a weekly prank night or something, but they've yet to do something to me."
The girl wondered if that weekly prank idea would really fall through, and -- thinking she'd never have a better chance -- dared to ask the big question.
"How did you become friends with them, anyway?" Her fingers curled, nervously, as Lupin turned his head to see Hagrid's continued conversation with Genspy, and now a Sixth-Year Gryffindor who looked familiar.
"We met up during a Diagon Alley visit early over the summer...Sirius actually introduced me to James, as they were trying to bargain ice cream prices at Fortescue's." Lupin watched a small hummingbird hovering close by them, and then turned his head to meet Lily. "I've known Sirius's family a while back, but he and James've been friends forever."
Lily nodded in understanding, and then saw a pebble move near the edge of her hand. Realizing it was her snail, she playfully ran her fingers across the spiky shell.
"I'm glad that they treat you well," she said, wishing she could feel the same way, though feeling much better that the boy was being open to her.
"Thanks..." Lupin watched her pick up the snail with one of her hands.
The little redhead smiled at him, picking up her snail once again.
"So, what were you doing here?" Lupin asked, remembering that question at the very beginning.
"Me? Oh, I'm bringing this little monster back from Transfiguration," she said simply, though she knew he had meant something else beyond that.
Lily wished she could have said more about her fascination for animals, or how she enjoyed the filtering sunlight that came from the surface...yet for some reason, her mind went blank at exactly the wrong moment.
"Right, it was MetaMorphism today, wasn't it." Lupin recollected, eyeing the snail's spiky shell a second time. He gave another sigh and looked down at the cobblestone ground.
"Are you okay?" Lily asked instantly, her mind flashing back to King's Cross Station.
Lupin raised his eyebrows peculiarly at the girl, and she saw how his forehead already carried small wrinkle lines, which seemed to suit a stressed-out Seventh Year much better than an eleven-year-old.
The boy laughed with slight relief, "Oh I'm fine, don't worry."
His voice was very calm, which came as a good sign to the little redhead in front of him. That serenity delivered a great sense of comfort towards Lily, and she knew this was a boy who clearly had much to talk about.
"Well you missed Wednesday's class too..." Lily reminded him, as a way of saying it was alright to explain anything to her ears.
"Madame Pomfrey and Dumbledore have just been telling me about my treatment schedule for the term..."
"Treatment?" Lily's emerald eyes seemed to glisten over at him, as if questioning his previous 'I'm fine' comment. She didn't blink once.
He suddenly felt like he was being interrogated, and his eyes lost the glimmer they once had. "It's nothing serious, okay?"
"Alright then..." Lily dismissed the subject at his wish, with much ease, and watched a spider monkey swing along the vines with a Fifth Year's wand (the boy was chasing it exasperatingly), and she smiled . The little girl told herself that she wouldn't believe any stories except what Lupin would say to her, and somehow, she already knew that his story wasn't as bizarre as other people imagined it to be.
This place held both a relaxing and spontaneous atmosphere for Lily, and as she gazed over at the boy whom she had just struck up conversation with...she almost believed that anything was truly possible.
A giant bell ring had reverberated into the walls of the Conservatory, marking the end of the break period. Hagrid was attempting to tame the gray birds that were flying wildly every which way, and Lupin put his arms over his ducked head to prevent from getting pecked.
"Hold your bookbag over your head." Lily advised to him, clearly having had her share of pecks before. (She had a few little scratch marks on her upper arms already, but luckily, her long-sleeved robed hid them from view.)
"Thanks." Lupin said as he smacked off a bird that was diving at Lily's shoulder, and the two scurried over to the small horde of students that were lining up to leave the Conservatory.
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---Snape, and his grandfather was a wizard here at Hogwarts. He's really smart, but a bit strange; yesterday, he said that he someday wants to be knighted as Noble of the Kulp Arma Defense Services...whatever that means. But we've gotten to be good friends already – it's nice to know someone else who's as big a fan of the Beatles as I am! =) There are also some new troublemakers in the school...by the names of Potter and Black...but not to worry, Mum. Professor McGonagall is a brilliant House Head and she's making sure things go quite smoothly here. Well, I better get going to bed now, but I promise I'll tell you more about this place very soon...many kisses for you and Dad! And tell Petty that I wish her the best of luck at her ballet recital this Saturday – she's wonderful. Much love from your Lily.
The little girl stood behind the door to the owlery, finishing up her letter with one dash of her quill. She felt a bit reluctant from not telling her mother about the Wisps, or about Lupin, but the girl had barely left enough space at the bottom to sign her name.
It didn't matter to her, though. Lily knew this would be the first of many letters to write.........and many chances to mention the wonderful (and horrible) people she would meet at the school. Quietly, she stepped into the owlery room that was decked with straw and smelled like an old horse-breeding farm. There were dozens of messenger owls lined up on the wooden beams, sleeping away for the night, and Lily almost chose to put off the letter until the next morning.
But an auburn screech owl saw her letter at the door, and spread its wings in a kind gesture, flying onto Lily's right arm. She rolled the little parchment up and placed it gently into the owl's beak.
"Twelve Thirty-two Campbell, Middleton," Lily whispered, and the owl instantly flew out the furthest window, waking a few sleeping owls along the way. The girl ran out and shut the door before the owls could see her.
A few prefects were monitoring the last hour before bedtime, and luckily, one of them informed her about the right staircase she should take to get to the Gryffindor common room. Lily made it past the Fat Lady's portrait with a sigh of relief, right before ill-tempered Filch began to wander the corridors.
Exhausted, she waved a 'good night' to Joyce and Margaret (who were playing cards that could deal themselves) – without looking at anyone else – and headed straight up to her dormitory. Before she even entered the vast room, her eyes rose momentarily.
A pair of fluffy, lime green slippers were waiting there for her, at the hinge of the door.